Letter to the editor: Watchers

By Eric MainordHeber

Editor:

After years of false claims and obstruction that are wreaking havoc on hard working families in our community and revenues for the county and school district, it's time to bring attention to some very important points about the Nine Mile Coalition.

Pam Miller, with the Nine Mile Coalition, has, while under the employ of our local college, been working to be quoted in almost everything that is reported in the news about the drilling operations in the canyon. She seems to be the "go to gal" for the press with her consistently negative slant she continually puts on things the gas and oil industry does to improve the wonderful resource we call the West Tavaputs. Even with the programmatic agreement that was signed by half a dozen different interest groups last week, Mrs. Miller's pessimism and provocation continued.

She and her group are now the self-anointed "watcher" in the canyon. They sure aren't doers though.

I am curious to know how much money the Nine Mile Coalition has raised so that other individuals can enjoy the resources the canyon has to offer all of us. Mrs. Miller, the Nine Mile Coalition, and their sue-happy SUWA partners act like what the gas industry does is criminal, when in fact industry is the one putting their money where their mouths are. Thanks to industry you can actually get to the Great Hunt Panel, in a reasonable amount of time, without a 4x4 vehicle, two spare tires and emergency rations. And when you get there you can actually enjoy and study the panel without having to worry about being run over or choking on dust. Not a single one of these improvements come courtesy of the "watchers."

Is the Nine Mile Coalition also "watching" the families whose fathers and husbands are out of work because of their selfish actions? While many of their families enjoyed Christmas, some paid for by us taxpayers that support the college and from the funds generated by taxes and royalties from industry to the state and federal governments, I personally know of families who were not only unable to provide Christmas but are losing their homes as a direct result of these organization's actions.

The companies operating on the West Tavaputs are not only operating responsibly, there are many who believe that operations in Nine Mile should be used as the standard that other companies should be striving to achieve. The BLM is holding industry to a high standard while balancing multiple use that, as the BLM mission states, includes development and production.

You say, when the cameras are rolling, that you are in favor of multiple use, yet follow up your stance by exaggerating claims such as "1,000 trucks a day" to instill fear. Yet the West Tavaputs EIS drags on and on.

I believe that half hearted options offered by your side are simply stall tactics. While so many people that live right in your community suffer, I would like to challenge your group, publicly, to step up and tell us what an acceptable solution is in the West Tavaputs area. Oh, and by the way, if you didn't hear it the first dozen times, an alternate route would cost tens of millions, disturb thousands of acres of habitat and artifacts, and double or triple the length of trips to the plateau. In other words, it doesn't work, not that facts matter to those like you who luxuriate in abstraction and obstruction while in the ivory towers of academia and environmental euphoria.

It's time to account for how you are spending our money to the detriment of our future.